Stone Angel
by Anne la Jordanie
Summary: Serenity is abused but her pain draws those who love her closer together. Oneshot, shonenai, SetoJoey.


Stone Angel

AN: After careful rewriting, I'm reposting this story. It used to be called Concrete Angel. It was my first song fic, but I'm not allowed to use the song lyrics. So now it's just based of a country song called Concrete Angel. Originally there was some romanticism between Serenity and Seto, but that has been changed to Joey and Seto. I actually think it works better this way, though I wish I could post the lyrics.

Ever since Serenity moved in with Joey and started at Domino High, Tea had noticed something wrong. She was quieter, more withdrawn, and startled easily. Every day she and Joey would walk into the schoolyard, each carrying a bag lunch which Serenity had painstakingly packed that morning. Joey would run to join Yugi and Tristan, while Serenity followed head down, with her hair over her face. Then there was that time in gym class. Instead of the loose stockings that most girls preferred to wear with their uniforms, Serenity would wear long white stockings that almost reached the hem of her skirt. When the girls had to change into their gym shorts and remove their stockings, Serenity burst into tears. The teacher, unable to get a sensible word out of her, sent her to the dean, who just ordered her to dress as was required by her teacher. When Serenity came back still sobbing, he took pity on her and told her if it bothered her that if it bothered her that much she could continue to wear her stockings.

In the teachers' lounge there was much discussion of Joey Wheelers sweet little sister. All the teachers had some thing odd to say. The counselor said that when the class discussed suicide she had pointed out the difference between wanting to kill yourself and wishing you hadn't existed in the first place. A math teacher described how she flinched whenever someone raised their voice. Another spoke of how she fell asleep in study hall and was woken from nightmares by the kind boy who sat next to her. But once when the boy bent close, asking if she was alright, she screamed and shielded her face, toppling off her chair. She had to be escorted to the nurse. The nurse told the story of how, when she asked Serenity to remove her jacket, she refused, claiming she felt chilly. The gym teacher explained about her stockings. One of the younger teachers wondered why this girl was so afraid. And she was quite pretty; why cover her body so carefully? The connection slowly began to form. Clearly Serenity had been raped. The young teacher began to think of how to approach her, but finals were coming up. After that was done, perhaps...  
Serenity worked diligently on her classes, but every once in awhile an assignment was turned in half done. Still, she was everyone's favorite; both of teachers and students. Even Seto Kaiba, cold and cruel, liked her and would smile at her every now and then. Many times Serenity would slip away from her group of fans and join him in the corner, sitting silently, gazing at him or his work. Sometimes she would ask a soft question and he would reply, curtly. Despite the tone there was admiration in his eyes. The questions were clever, intelligent. The girl had a brain and a clear grasp of technology. Once she suggested something even he hadn't thought of. It was then that he started to drive her home, over her brother's objections. Eventually, however, he adjusted to the idea and even rode home with them when he didn't have to stay after school. Serenity would always make him let them out a block from their house. Seto presumed it was because she was embarrassed. He never guessed she might have another reason.

Late at night was when Serenity did her homework, after all the housework was done. Their father, Joseph Wheeler Sr., was lazy and drunk most of the time. Joey would help when he could, but often he had after school detention for his pranks. It was late, Joey would be asleep, when her father would catch her bent over a book or mending Joey's uniform. Often he didn't even realize it was her and not her mother. If he did, he would rage all the more, calling her a bastard of his whoring wife. Then he would accuse her of being a slut, of being pregnant, of being a dyke... then he would hit her when she said she wasn't, denouncing her as a liar. He was careful, even drunk, that no marks would show. But under her uniform there were purple swellings which were replaced by others before they faded away. One night he found her reading a letter from Seto Kaiba. It was an invite to a party where he would announce his new invention which she had helped him build. Her father beat her, screaming that she was Kaiba's mistress. Joey woke up and tried to stop him, but he was shoved out of the room and the door was locked. Then the crashes began and Serenity cried out, begging for her father to stop. Joey banged on the door, yelling for help, but no one came. Then it grew quiet behind the door and his father came out crying. He asked Joey's forgiveness, saying he didn't mean to hurt her. Joey pushed past him and stared at his baby sister, her face covered in blood. After throwing up in the bathroom, he called the police.

Everyone came to her funeral; Joey, Yugi, Tea, Tristan, the Kaiba brothers, Mai, Duke, Bakura, her mother, her teachers... people from school who barely knew her. They all spoke about how wonderful she was, kind and loving, and how tragic it was that she was gone. Joey could only turn to the coffin and say her had loved her, then staggered down to his seat. The saddest and most moving was when Seto Kaiba spoke. He said she was the most beautiful, clever, understanding girl he had ever met. He had been intending to ask her to join his team of designers at Kaiba Corp at his party, which had been canceled. But before he did that he had been intending to announce that he was going to call his new invention, made to make his duel disks run smoother, the Serenity System. At the end of the speech he turned to Joey, and reminded the congregation that they still had one Wheeler child left.

As the others left the graveyard, Seto and Joey, once rivals, stood before the grave, which had a stone angel standing above it. Joey looked up into the stone face, crying, and Seto apologized for his loss, sounding as formal as ever. As Seto turned away, heading for his little brother Mokuba, who was waiting by a limo, Joey grabbed his shoulder, pulling him back. He hugged his sister's friend, sobbing into his chest, crying that he should have stopped it, that he should have known. Seto patted his back, soothing him, saying no one had realized. He sounded calm, but if you looked closely he was crying as well. Finally the two left together, climbing into the limo and thanking Mokuba for waiting. Every month they would come back together, each with a bouquet, Joey with white lilies, Seto with black roses, and sit and talk. Sometimes others would come with them, but they always came together.

Years passed; grass grew on the grave and moss started to creep over the polished granite. Joey and Seto took to clearing it off together. It was one such day that Seto asked Joey something, offering a beautiful diamond ring. Joey blinked back tears and nodded. The two stood and in front of the stone angel kissed. They came less often after that, but the stone angel always waited, smiling. They eventually adopted a kid, a five year old girl who had been abused named Angel. She was brought to Aunt Serenity's grave each year. Angel would climb up, staring into the stone angel's face. When she was still little she would hang off of the angel's wings. Seto would get angry, but Joey would tell her to keep playing. He reminded Seto that Serenity had always liked kids. And there was nothing more joyful to see than their two angels together.


End file.
